Re "Schools that graduate thieves," Current, Jan. 1 If only God could have had Dennis Prager's help with the Ten Commandments, they could have been more succinctly expressed. Prager no doubt thinks he could have done things better. But why, apart from his usual prejudice, does he blame left-wing teachers for young people who think that stealing is acceptable? They have much more prominent examples to follow: convicted ex-WorldCom Inc. chief Bernard Ebbers, convicted former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski, accused Enron chief Ken Lay, et al. It is doubtful that they were influenced by left-wing teachers.

Dennis Prager may be "Mr. Morality" (Feb. 7), but from my experience his morality has holes in it. He says, "God wants us to be happy." He has no compunction about attributing to his god what he considers his own point of view. (The prophet Isaiah says that his god is the creator of woe.) Happiness, unfortunately, must be related to something, and it is happiness for many to cause unhappiness in others. KENNETH H. BONNELL Los Angeles Dennis Prager is a rarity: a talk-show host who doesn't scream, doesn't attempt to titillate or pander to the lowest common denominator.

Re "Religious zealots, arranged right to left," Current, Dec. 11 We at the Union for Reform Judaism thank Dennis Prager for reminding the American public that there exist religious voices other than those of the religious right. We hope that his article is the beginning of greater media attention to liberal religious perspectives on economic, social and political matters. We believe that the religious truths of Judaism call on us to speak out on the great issues of our day. If Prager disagrees with that, he had better take it up with Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos.

When they worked together, the writing-directing team of Jim Abrahams and David Zucker, along with David's brother, Jerry, were known for turning out a number of hit comedies, including "Airplane!" and "Ruthless People." But after "Ruthless People," Abrahams and the Zuckers parted company, working on their own projects--Abrahams directed last summer's "Hot Shots," while David turned out his "Naked Gun" films and Jerry directed "Ghost."

November 17, 1991 | JOEL ENGEL, Joel Engel is a Los Angeles-based author and journalist who writes frequently about cultural issues. and

One Sunday night last February, at the height of the Gulf War, a caller to KABC-AM challenged host Dennis Prager's vociferous support of America's military involvement. Frustrated by his inability to counter Prager's argument that the war was "just and moral," the caller resorted to an ad hominem attack, expressing an opinion evidently shared by many listeners to the high-rated show. "You're so arrogant," he said. "You think whatever you say is so important."

Re "Racial Paranoia Infected Media After Staples Melee," June 27: In response to Agustin Gurza's question, "Now who's going to apologize for the paid pundits?" No one! Why should they have to apologize? As Gurza pointed out, Dennis Prager held a radio program the morning after the melee, which he found offensive. Maybe it was to some people. But, if there was a Latino version of the Dennis Prager show expressing unfavorable views against the white community, I doubt it would be deemed politically incorrect or even make a blip on the media's radar screen.

Re "Why God hates terrorists more than gamblers," Current, Aug. 14 Dennis Prager says that if Jews, Christians and Muslims cannot see that killing in God's name is a greater sin than most, they deserve the contempt the secular world already has for them. He says belief in God is the only hope for spreading goodness on Earth: "Without a God-based moral code, morality becomes a euphemism for personal preferences and humanity sinks into moral anarchy." He just doesn't get that the world over, without input from the gods, people have concluded that thou shall not murder, steal, bear false witness or covet.

I hope the barbarity of Dennis Prager's paean to violence will shock future generations less inclined to consider the intentional killing of human beings a "moral good" (Commentary, May 2). In the meantime, I can only remind readers that those pacifists whom Prager calls liars and who he says "cannot be taken seriously on a moral basis" include Gandhi, King, Einstein, Jesus and Buddha. It is Prager who loses his moral compass while celebrating the short-term, pyrrhic victories of warfare.

Re "Syndicator Takes Stephanie Miller's Show Off the Air" (by Judith Michaelson,March 8): Why did it take so long? If, as Miller contends, KABC pulled her show because of "racy content," I would contend that someone was being inordinately polite. It didn't take many of her programs to conclude that a more accurate and printable characterization of her show would be "insipidly inane and raunchy." It should come as no surprise that KABC ratings have dropped. I suggest that even more housecleaning is in order for KABC to regain its ratings of a few years ago, when we were entertained with Ken and Bob, Ken and Peter, etc. Fortunately, you still have the professionalism of Dennis Prager and Larry Elder; without them you would really be in trouble.

Re "When young Jews major in anti-Semitism," Current, Oct. 9 I am a proud and practicing Jew. I am also against governments that torture, discriminate and are founded on ethnic cleansing. My anti-Zionism is not, as Dennis Prager would have it, "a form of anti-Semitism" based on the idea "that only one country in the world is unworthy of existence." I believe a number of governments throughout the world are illegitimate, including Sudan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Israel. Yet I remain hopeful.

Re "The left finds an avenging angel in Katrina," Current, Sept. 11 Conservative apologist Dennis Prager sets up a false argument: that some people find the Bush tax cuts and ignoring of global warming akin to sin. He then attributes that position to a mysterious entity he dubs the "secular left" (as if liberals cannot be religious), ties it to Hurricane Katrina and smugly knocks it down. Truly an exercise in futility. As usual, his piece ignores the only fact that matters: The Katrina disaster finally exposed a staggering level of mendacity and ineptitude at the federal level, and people no longer feel safe.

Re "Why God hates terrorists more than gamblers," Current, Aug. 14 Dennis Prager says that if Jews, Christians and Muslims cannot see that killing in God's name is a greater sin than most, they deserve the contempt the secular world already has for them. He says belief in God is the only hope for spreading goodness on Earth: "Without a God-based moral code, morality becomes a euphemism for personal preferences and humanity sinks into moral anarchy." He just doesn't get that the world over, without input from the gods, people have concluded that thou shall not murder, steal, bear false witness or covet.

Re "Evil targets God's chosen," Current, July 10 Dennis Prager writes that without the Jews there would be no Christianity and no Islam, but if this were true then he neglects to mention another thing there would not be: war. As a Jew, I find it disturbing to live in a world where we hail our own spiritual faith as somehow more important than another's. Millions have paid the ultimate price for this spiritual arrogance with their suffering at the hands of someone else's belief system.

Re "Our Father Is No 'It' or Gal God," Opinion, June 19: Kudos to Dennis Prager for acknowledging the artificiality of his God's masculinity, that mask being a mere psychological convenience. Prager admits that the Bible characterizes God as "sexually neuter" and "entirely devoid of sexual characteristics," and, obviously, a biological trait such as gender cannot be possessed by a being who is neither biological nor material. In order to qualify as supernatural, God must, tautologically, transcend the properties of nature.

Re "Our Father Is No 'It' or Gal God," Opinion, June 19: Dennis Prager's article contains numerous conclusions that have no empirical or scientific basis. Here are the top three: Feminist thinker Carole Gilligan does argue that men and women come to moral decisions through different mental processes. But her conclusion is the exact opposite of what Prager stated. She demonstrates that women's moral authority is just as powerful as men's. That's why her book is titled "In a Different Voice," not "In an Inferior Voice."

Re "When young Jews major in anti-Semitism," Current, Oct. 9 I am a proud and practicing Jew. I am also against governments that torture, discriminate and are founded on ethnic cleansing. My anti-Zionism is not, as Dennis Prager would have it, "a form of anti-Semitism" based on the idea "that only one country in the world is unworthy of existence." I believe a number of governments throughout the world are illegitimate, including Sudan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Israel. Yet I remain hopeful.

Dennis Prager (Commentary, Oct. 20) has distorted a Jewish legend to serve his unfortunate argument that by choosing "peace over justice" the jury failed to render a just verdict in the Reginald Denny case. In truth, the ancient Rabbinic story does not at all say that "Justice and peace . . . would not be able to live together." It is rather a tale about a debate among the angels as to whether God should or should not create "man." Love and justice (righteousness) argue for his creation.

Re two opinions on the Los Angeles County seal, "A Jew Fights for the Cross" by Dennis Prager, and "Seriously Folks, This Is Not a Laughing Matter" by Ramona Ripston, Nov. 14 : As a Christian, I am honored that Prager, a Jew, would come to the defense of keeping a historical symbol, which also happens to be a religious one, on the county seal. On the other hand, Ripston's cry of defending the rights of all people who might be offended by wearing or seeing such a symbol based on her interpretation of the principle of separation of church and state rings hollow, at least to me. If she really wanted to remove all religious symbols from the county seal, then why didn't she call for the removal of the pagan goddess figure too?